Happy Thanksgiving... :)

Hello friends,

I just thought I'd share a few quick stories with you in light of Thanksgiving.  I haven't been updating very much lately, partly because I am now in charge of another blog, the blog for Aldea Yanapay.  It was a lot of work to set up, and now that it's up and running, I have been trying to keep that one updated and have since run out of time for this one.  However, I would be delighted if you would go and read that one as well, I've put a lot of work into it!  Here's the link: http://aldeayanapaycusco.blogspot.com.

So last night, Diana and I wanted pizza so we walked to the nearby pizza oven and asked the kind old man if he would deliver our pizzas up to our hostel.  We knew he had done it before, and he gladly agreed to bring them in about fifteen minutes.  So, Diana and I went back up to the hostel and started watching TV while waiting for our pizza.  A little while later the hostel bell rang and he was there, smiling and waving at the gate, holding our pizzas.  I ran to let him in, took the pizzas, and handed him 2 soles for a tip (about 60 cents, really) for bringing them up to us on foot.  In that moment, I have never seen anyone more excited and surprised.  He just gasped when he saw what I gave him, and giggled with a big smile like a little boy.  I laughed with him, said thank you again, and went back to the room with our food and just sat down, rather astounded by what had just happened.  

I know that it's not really customary to leave tips in Peru, even though we usually do anyway just to be polite.  But, this man had gone out of his way to deliver our pizza, and was so astounded that I'd given him extra money for his service.  I don't really know what to think about that...  It kind of broke my heart.  It really made me think about the poverty here, and how grateful I need to be for what I have.  Given that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I am even more aware and grateful of what I have.  I see our poor children every day, often wearing the same dirty clothes all week, coming with just a piece of bread for lunch and dinner, scared of being touched because they are worried they'll be hit...  I thought of all this just because this little old man was so excited about getting a tip for a pizza delivery.  It's incredible how happy he was, and how sad I was all of a sudden.  It made me sad to think that this was probably the best thing that had happened to him all day, possible all week.  It also made me wonder, why can't I be that happy over something so little?  Maybe because it's not something little for him.  Again, that's the poverty of Peru.

So, there's my story.  I don't really know why it affected me so much, but it has.  Another short story:  Roxanna, the lady who helps Haydee cook and clean, is currently in Arequipa waiting for an operation.  She was taken in by Yuri several years ago with her daughter Diana because she was being badly abused by her husband.  Since then, she has worked for Haydee, and Diana as attended the Yanapay schools.  For a very long time, Roxanna has had a problem with her lungs.  I don't know exactly what, but she has a hard time breathing, and has had an operation on one of them before.  Now for a while she has needed this other surgery, and last weekend we helped her raise money for the operation by hosting a pollada at the hostel.  Polladas are very popular here in Peru: basically, the hosts cook a bunch of chicken and make salads and french fries and sell tickets to their family and friends for 7 or 8 soles.  They sometimes include beer or live music, but ours was quite simple with just food and chicha morada (a purple corn drink) and iPod music. 

Anyway, we helped Roxanna raise money because she needed to travel to Arequipa because apparently the hospital here in Cusco didn't have any thread.  Now, you may think that thread should be a requirement for any hospital claiming to have surgical capabilities, but apparently it isn't.  Yuri also said that it may not be the lack of thread that is preventing them from operating on her, but just the fact that they don't want to take the risk.  It's a dangerous surgery, and it's possible that the hospital here doesn't have the right insurance in case something goes wrong.  So, poor Roxanna had to buy an overnight bus ticket to Arequipa and go all by herself to the hospital 10 hours away in a strange city.  She left Monday night, and was supposed to have the surgery on Tuesday right away, but now I've learned that it didn't happen because they didn't have enough of her blood type in stock for the surgery.  So now they have to wait for enough donations (or deaths??) before they can operate.  It's so incredibly astounding and frustrating that this can happen.  The poor lady is already scared of not surviving the surgery and now she's had to wait even longer...  Luckily some of the workers from Yanapay are going to be with tomorrow I think, and one of them is going to donate blood.  I am going to find out tomorrow if my blood would be useful to her... maybe I'll skip school a few days and go to Arequipa.  Either way, it's so devastating that this is a common occurrence and no one is very surprised.  I know there are worse conditions out there as well, but this is the first up close and personal experience I have had, and it's always a little harder to handle that way.


So, I'm very sorry to post two sad stories on the eve of Thanksgiving, but I find it ironically appropriate.  After all, I am here in Peru for the sole purpose of recognizing that I have more than enough in my life and that giving my time and resources is the least I can do for these wonderful people and children.  I have never been more thankful for what I have, and what I have been given so freely my entire life.  Not just resources, food, a house, education; I have been given love so freely from my parents, my sisters, my entire family, my friends, my teachers, my neighbors, even from complete strangers.  Believe it or not, the children I see every day are not that lucky.  Many of them never feel loved by their parents or their families or their teachers.  They don't hear from anyone that they are unique and special.  They don't go to bed at night feeling safe and protected by the people they live with.

The only place they feel safe and loved and wanted is at our school.  And I am so incredibly thankful that I am able to provide them with that feeling of security, the feeling that they are wanted and special and that someone loves them.  That someone will give them a hug and kiss and a warm smile every day without fail.  That someone will pick them up and cuddle them if they fall or get hurt.  That someone will encourage them with their homework and tell them they did a good job.  That someone will miss them if they are gone for a day.  That someone will tell them everything will be ok when they make a mistake.


Now that I'm crying, I want to say that I love all of you, and will always be so incredible thankful that you are in my life.  Thank you for letting me take this journey.  Thank you for being supportive.  Thank you for understanding and helping me with my dreams.  Thank you for being there for me when I need you most.  Thank you.

Love love love,
Maia Jo